Murray proud of Mansfield

Adam Murray was delighted to see Mansfield defend a 1-0 lead as they ended high-flying Luton's 10-game unbeaten run with a crucial win.

The Stags threw away two vital safety points on Saturday when they gifted Northampton a stoppage-time penalty in a 1-1 draw. But they stood firm under intense second-half pressure from Luton to hang on to the lead given to them by Rakish Bingham after 32 minutes and maintain a proud record of never having lost a league game at home to the Hatters. Murray said: "That was a big step, not just the points, but mentally they needed to go through a brick wall and get over the line. It will be a huge psychological boost. "We have taken four points off two top teams this week. Luton are a team with a manager I respect. They epitomise him as they are hard working, down to earth and quality. So for us to go and beat them I am over the moon. "The crowd were very anxious. But I can't ask any more from them with how they backed us. Some of my boys were dead out there but the fans pushed us over the line. "The most pleasing thing for me was our work-rate and the pride my players showed in wearing the shirt. They gave everything for this football club. "I am asking people to go through barriers and there were some tired legs out there. That fatigue has cost us with losing Reggie Lambe. We will have to see how he is but it doesn't look good. "We don't have the biggest squad and in an ideal world we would have freshened things up. So absolute credit to all the lads." Bingham, recently recalled from a loan at Hartlepool, was only on the field as a substitute as winger Lambe limped off after 19 minutes. But he made no mistake with his finish from eight yards after Stags had broken well from a Luton corner after 32 minutes, Jack Thomas finding him with the killer pass to his right. Indeed, the save from Jonathan Smith made by home keeper Lenny Pidgeley to concede the corner was the first real chance in a tight first half. Luton almost levelled just before the break but Jake Howells headed wide at the far post from Mark Cullen's long cross. Injury-hit Mansfield were given a searching examination of their stamina after the break and rarely looked like scoring, though a long Thomas cross did deceive Mark Tyler and hit the bar after 49 minutes. Cullen had two chances to level after the break, Pidgeley keeping out a low shot after a one-two with Jason Stockley after 67 minutes and then relieved to see Cullen poke wide from close range seven minutes later after a throw had been flicked on. Luton boss John Still admitted: "It has been a frustrating night. We didn't start great, in fact neither team started well. "I felt we were reasonably comfortable all of the game but we made an error from one end of the pitch to the other and they scored. It was a basic error, one we shouldn't have made. "In the second half we had wave after wave of attacks. We made enough opportunities to score. Mark (Cullen) did a fantastic bit of skill but put the chance past the post. With the form he is in, he would have expected to score that and we expected him to. "We had lots of balls in and around their box and flashing across the goal but we were unable to get back in it. That's football, we worked our socks off and we are disappointed but disappointment's part of my job. "It was not the perfect conditions to play the perfect ball and perfect pass but we did enough to have ground it out. We didn't for two reasons because we couldn't get the finishing touch ourselves and because the other team worked really hard to keep in the game. "It was a dour, gritty home performance but I thought if we could get one goal we could go on and get another one. "There was maximum effort from everyone . We are still in a fantastic position. I don't want to do the players a disservice. "I hear people around me going that this player is out and that player is out but that team did enough to get something from the game. "It didn't and it is up to the manager to pull something up and then we go again on Saturday."